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Sweet cherries

Sweet cherries are primarily used for eating fresh, straight from the tree.

  • Sweet cherries

    Amber Heart

    Amber Heart sweet cherries
    The most popular traditional English white cherry, widely known as Kent Bigarreau.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Mid
    • Country of origin: United Kingdom
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Black Oliver

    Black Oliver is an English mid-season black cherry.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Mid
    • Country of origin: United Kingdom
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Celeste

    Celeste sweet cherries
    Celeste is a dark red/black cherry, one of the best early-season varieties, with a sweet mild flavour.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Early
    • Country of origin: Canada
    • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Hertford

    A large dark red English cherry with a good flavour.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Country of origin: United Kingdom
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Knight's Early Black

    Knight's Early Black sweet cherries
    A traditional English early-season black cherry
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Early
    • Country of origin: United Kingdom
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Kordia

    Kordia sweet cherries
    Kordia is a popular late-season cherry variety with a good balanced cherry flavour.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Country of origin: Czech Republic
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Lapins

    Lapins sweet cherries
    Lapins is a mid-season red cherry from Canada, easy to grow, with heavy crops of good-flavoured cherries.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Mid
    • Country of origin: Canada
    • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Merton Glory

    Merton Glory sweet cherries
    A well-known mid-season English white cherry.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Early
    • Country of origin: United Kingdom
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Napoleon Bigarreau

    A traditional white cherry, with an excellent flavour and appearance.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Early
    • Country of origin: Germany
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Penny

    Penny sweet cherries
    Penny is a high quality very late-season cherry - it ripens in mid-August.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Very late
    • Country of origin: United Kingdom
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Regina

    Regina sweet cherries
    Regina is a new dark-red late-season sweet cherry, with a good flavour and resistance to splitting.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Country of origin: Germany
    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Skeena®

    One of the best of the Canadian late-season cherries.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Country of origin: Canada
    • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Stella

    Stella sweet cherries
    If you only want to grow one cherry tree, choose Stella - self-fertile, easy to grow, and a good pollinator.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Mid
    • Country of origin: Canada
    • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Summer Sun

    Summer Sun sweet cherries
    Summer Sun is productive mid-season cherry, and should ripen even if the summer weather is less than perfect.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Mid
    • Country of origin: United Kingdom
    • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Sunburst

    Sunburst sweet cherries
    Sunburst is a large red mid-season cherry with a good mild flavour, and notably easy to pick.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Mid
    • Country of origin: Canada
    • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Sweet cherries

    Sweetheart

    Sweetheart sweet cherries
    Sweetheart is one of the best-flavoured late-season cherries.
    24.45€buy
    • Picking season: Late
    • Country of origin: Canada
    • Self-fertility: Self-fertile

How to choose Sweet cherries

Sweet cherry varieties can be crudely classified into two groups: traditional English, and modern. The traditional English varieties are in fact mostly of central European origin (and have very un-English names) but were the mainstay of cherry orchards in Kent for the first half of the 20th century or earlier. These varieties are typified by good traditional cherry flavours, but are not particularly easy to grow and often have complicated pollination requirements.

Modern cherry development is now an international affair but was started by the Summerland research station in British Columbia, Canada in the 1940s. The original objective was to tackle the horticultural problems associated with commercial cherry production, particularly fruit-splitting and pollination. The most famous of these new varieties is Stella but there are many others (often starting with an "S"-sound, such as Sweetheart, Sunburst, and Celeste). Whilst they lack the tradition and romance associated with the older English varieties, the flavours are still excellent and their self-fertility and easier horticultural characteristics make them a much better choice for the gardener with space for only one or two cherry trees.